Ashes to Ashes
by stilljustme
Summary: Last moments on the run to nowhere.


_This story is dedicated to_ **musicangel100** - _thanks, and I hope you like it._

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They wouldn't make it.  
Virtus was a good horse, at least for Roman means, but the fame of Rome was not enough. Now that they would need the allegedly god-given strength and power to escape, the realm showed its weakness.

"I'm not a Roman", he heard Cassia insist angrily in his memory, "I'm a citizen of Pompeii."

Milo reached for her hands crossed around his waist and for a moment entwined his fingers with hers. Cassia moved closer to him, burying her cheek in his back. He just hoped she would look into the open land before her, and not back to the desolation and hell that once had been her home. Milo knew what such a sight could do to somebody – he knew now what it had done to him, what it had made out of him.

They wouldn't make it.  
And if it wasn't for the past three days, Milo probably wouldn't have cared. There had been nothing to live for, except to be a thorn in Rome's flesh.

Pompeii. It seemed this city was determined to withstand Rome, too, even at the cost of its life. Milo bowed forward to take a bit of the weight away. Virtus wasn't a warrior, he couldn't fight even for his own life, left alone for his riders. How long till he would simply lay down and die?

His parents hadn't. And Cassia's mother neither, or Aridane. They had done what they could to protect Cassia from death, from Rome, from Corvus… Corvus. He too had been there, once again threatening all Milo cared for. And now Corvus would die too, or already was dead.  
It all would end here. They wouldn't make it.  
And if it wasn't for the woman behind him, Milo realized he would – finally – have no regrets about his life.

A hole opened up in the ground, and Milo felt Cassia slipping away, her arms opening up so she wouldn't yank him to the ground with her.  
He jumped off instantly, rolling her away from the panicking horse. "Are you okay?"

For a moment, Cassia didn't answer, and as he followed her glance Milo understood why. It was too late. The smoke had become so thick in what once had been the city that they couldn't see the volcano anymore, or the sun. If there was sun, at all. If it wasn't the end of the world.  
"Why?" Cassia whispered again, her voice – as his – hoarse from smoke and heat. "Why do they…" Her voice trailed off as she turned around to look at him, and the hopelessness in her eyes choked him. She had lost her home, her family, and her faith in the gods. And there was nowhere to escape anymore.

As he gently caressed her face Milo couldn't stop asking himself if she would have survived with Corvus. If she never had stood up for him and Atticus, if he hadn't chased his parents' killer through the streets… would there have been any chance for Cassia to live?

"You've gotta go!" The intensity of his voice surprised himself. "He's too slow with the two of us, you've gotta go alone, now!" Milo reached for Cassia's hands, helping her up without looking into her eyes. What if she could have survived without him? What if he had, with every action meant to save her life, only doomed her more?

Casssia shivered. "What are you talking about?"  
Milo had already grabbed Virtus' reins. "Go. This is… it's our only chance."  
Her only chance to survive, little as it was. And his only chance to do something good in his life.  
"Go now! Please!"

Cassia shook her head. Stray tears rolled down her face but her eyes were burning with a fire that was as blazing and strong as the Vesuvius.  
"There is nowhere to go" she said calmly, and before he could hinder it, she slapped the tired horse on the croup and sent him running. To where, though?

Milo stared at the disappearing horse, trying to remember its path. They had to run over there, and…

Cassia held his arm as he wanted to run.  
He turned around in desperation. "We've got to…"  
"It was kind from you when you killed that horse" she said ardently, her eyes burning right through his and into his heart. "You saved it from a far more painful death, or even worse… a crippled life. That's enough. Also for me."

Milo stared at her. Something was lumping in his throat, something bigger than smoke, but his eyes were too burnt and dry to have any tears left. "Cassia…"  
She moved closer, wrapping her arms around him. "It's enough for me. I just…" She pulled back for a second, hesitating. "I want to be with you in this moment."

It took him a second to realize that she was asking him for permission to die. Stop fighting, stop running. Stand in the fire undefeated by men, doomed but together… Milo bowed down to rest his forehead on hers. It was not the worst way to die.

Cassia looked up. "Milo? Please! Let's…"

Had Atticus made it out? If not, had he at least felt free when he died? Was the whole world ending or just theirs? Where there any gods, and were they fighting for their priests? And if so, would he see Cassia again once this moment passed, once this life was over?

The volcano roared, the air started boiling. His tongue turned from a dry fish to a piece of wood in a heartbeat. Cassia gasped, and he pulled her even closer, not wanting to leave an inch of her left alone now. He heard her sob drily at his chest.  
Gently, Milo pulled up her chin, imagining it would be her fire to burn him.

"I love you."  
Her lips tasted like the ash they would soon become, but he refused to let the kiss end before them.


End file.
